Marketing Your Virtual Library to Staff

This past week the middle school librarian and I presented to a small group of teachers about our virtual library resources. Just having this small group is a big success, since the last time this was offered no one showed up. The presentation took place after school in the middle school library so the majority of the teachers were from the middle school.

It was a short one hour presentation jam packed with information; I think we may have overwhelmed them, but I’m sure they walked away with valuable information! The middle and high school have a lot of cross over when it comes to what we have available, from Maine’s Virtual Library MARVEL, to the databases we subscribe to and the middle school librarian focused on these, while I presented how to access our new e-book and audiobook collection through OverDrive.

Some other ways to market your library resources to staff:

Department meetings

Lunch time presentations

After school presentations

Newsletters

On the fly when you hear a teacher talking about a classroom project. This has worked wonders numerous times, whether it’s a virtual resource or just a book that would work well. Always keep your ears open and don’t be afraid to ask about what cool stuff is going on in their classroom.

We have an abundance of resources available to staff and students and marketing all these resources can take a lot of time and energy, but it is extremely important that we do this. The library is not only a physical space but it is now a virtual presence that can be used outside the library. Marketing these resources so that they used and are considered important to the school curriculum will ensure that the library is considered a vital asset and resource. We hope this small group will spread the word to other staff and more importantly use these resources with their students. One teacher has already scheduled his classes for the library and lots of e-books/audiobooks have been checked out by students, so I would say it was a success!